Bhagavad Gita · Mahabharata Codex

Satyavati

सत्यवती · satyavatī

Queen of Hastinapura; mother of Vyasa; great-grandmother of both armies

A ferry girl became queen, on the condition that her line would rule.

Satyavati grew up among fisher folk and rowed a ferry on the Yamuna, where the sage Parashara fathered Vyasa on her. When King Shantanu wished to marry her, her father demanded that her sons inherit, and Bhishma's vow secured it. Both her royal sons died without children. It was she who then summoned Vyasa to continue the family.